The Impressment of John R. Grayson, American Seaman

Impressment of Livestock and Produce

The terms “press” and “impressment” have lately come up in my research. During the U.S. Civil War, cavalry and infantry of both armies requisitioned or “pressed” livestock and/or produce from local citizens, who generally had little choice but to comply. Restitution was customarily promised, though on occasion personal property was forcibly taken without recourse.

Impressment of Men

“Impressment, colloquially “the press” or the “press gang“, is the forced conscription of men into a military force, especially a naval force, via intimidation and physical coercion, conducted by an organized group.“

Wikipedia

The size of the British Royal Navy ballooned during the French Revolutionary wars (1793-1802), thus it required many more experienced seamen to crew the vessels. Though “press gangs” did sometimes ambush men in harbor towns, the cited Wikipedia definition is somewhat hyperbolic. The more common practice entailed British warships simply pulling alongside merchant vessels, primarily as those ships were entering British ports. Subject to legal limitations, officers would board and impress sailors. Citizenship in the newly independent United States was a supposed bar to being taken, but often the burden of proof was left to the individual, who might then have to petition relatives and state governments to assist him in gaining release.

John R. Grayson in Family Histories

John Robinson Grayson (1779-1822) of Prince William County, Virginia, was in the mid-1790s an apprentice merchant seaman. One family history states, “Great Britain, ever resentful of the colonies’ rebellion, continued to devise provocations. Among these was a self-proclaimed “right” to detain American vessels… for the purpose of boarding and searching for British citizens. The Royal Navy was not above removing Americans…. It was in this manner that the boy John Robinson Grayson was “impressed” by the Royal Navy from the Brig Polly belonging to his brother-in-law Lund Washington and sailing out of the Occoquan,” a tributary of the Potomac River. Polly was “commanded by sailing master Pliny Hamilton.”

Colchester, Virginia merchant Lund Washington (1767-1853) married John’s older sister Susannah Monroe Grayson (1768-1822) in 1793. The couple had eleven children. Lund was a nephew of the Mount Vernon estate manager of the same name, both men being distant cousins of George Washington. The younger Lund was a family historian.

Lund’s papers state, “John was impressed by the British cruisers at the Texel.” Texel, a Dutch island in the North Sea, is where Captain John Paul Jones of the frigate Bonhomme Richard sought refuge following the capture of the HMS Serapis in 1779 (“I have not yet begun to fight!”). The Grayson family history continues: “John [Grayson] was held for several years by the British before his release was negotiated by the American government.“

Extra-family Records

We have no outside-the-family documents to confirm the 1790s experiences of John Grayson. Nowhere is the year when he was taken from the merchant ship noted. Because the minimum age for British naval impressment was 15, it was likely no earlier than 1795. Despite the elevated social status of his family, no available 1790-1800 historic newspapers seem to mention the incident. A man named Pliny (or Pleny) Hamilton, occupation ship master, appears in a number of Baltimore city directories. Brigs named “Polly” are mentioned in contemporary newspaper maritime sections, though none listed “Hamilton” as sailing master.

National Archives Impressment Records

The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) houses two microfilm reels of documents related to impressment of American seamen.¹ All are handwritten, and varying in legibility. Time did not allow a more precise count, but there were certainly several thousand names of purportedly American sailors impressed between 1793-1814. The lists were for the most part arranged chronologically and alphabetically. Details included: name of the American ship and captain; date of impressment; name of the British ship and captain; evidence of citizenship; and result of application.

Confirmation and New Information

The name “John Grayson” of Virginia appeared legibly a half-dozen times among these thousands of names. Three lists with headings like “Applications Made for the Relief and Protection of American Seamen” contain John’s name, though the date and details about the American ship from which he was supposedly impressed were blank in every case. Under the heading “British Ships where carried,” one new bit of information was found. In all three cases, “Inspector” was written. HMS Inspector was launched in 1782, and a Wikipedia footnoted source indicates that the ship was first assigned to the North Sea fleet in 1796. According to the NARA documentation, John applied for relief three times.

First Application, dated March 21, 1800

• The notation under EVIDENCE OF CITIZENSHIP reads: “His [John’s] letter of the 20th March.”
• Under RESULT OF APPLICATION it reads: “No docum. [illegible] of 3 April, see 2nd application fol. [illegible]”

Second Application, dated August 13, 1800

• EVIDENCE OF CITIZENSHIP: “Attached Copy of his Letter to the Rev^d Spence Grayson, his father, dated [illegible] April 12, with [illegible] memorandum therein [?]: -Certificate of his Birth by Elizabeth Grayson, his Mother, and W^m & Susanna, his Brother and Sister, sworn to before Thomas Mason J.P. Prince William County 24 June [illegible] attestations to the truth of the Certificate and affidavit by [illegible] Moore – Alexandria, 25 June; which attestation is authenticated under the hand and official Seal of John Marshall Secretary of State 26 June 1800 – the above received 11 Aug^t in Mr. Marshall’s letter 26 June.”
• RESULT OF APPLICATION: three notations – “Renewed 3 Oct.” –“‘No Document’, Mr. Nepean’s Letter 23 Oct^er“ –“See 3^d appⁿ Book B with Duplicate of the same Documents.”

Third Application, dated October 27, 1800

• EVIDENCE OF CITIZENSHIP: “2^nd appⁿ answered “No Document” – See Book A p. 101 for the evidence transmitted on that occasion. A group of the Same Documents sent with the present Chain to the Admiralty.”
• RESULT OF APPLICATION: “Ordered to be discharged, Mr. Nepean Sec. of the 7^th [illegible]”²

Held Several Years?

Could John have been “held several years by the British before his release was negotiated in 1800”?

• One would think not, because American ship masters like Pliny Hamilton were required to immediately report such incidents to the U.S. consul at the next port of call. Had he been remiss (or complicit),
• John would have tried to win over shipboard officers to his cause, or to covertly get word to his family or a U.S. consul if he could not do so. However,
• Trans-Atlantic crossings in good weather took about six weeks (witness the delay of U.S. Secretary of State John Marshall’s letter sent Jun 26 to received Aug 11), and many months delay are certainly foreseeable even if the wheels (or sails) were immediately set into motion.
• Government bureaucracy has eternally been glacial (witness receipt of letter Aug 11 to order for release Oct 27, for example, notwithstanding the speed with which the family expedited their Virginia end.)
• Finally, John wrote an April 12 (presumably 1800) letter to his father Spence. John was thus unaware that his father had died in December 1798, and had clearly been out of touch for at least 16 months by then.

Final Mysteries

One assumes John returned to Virginia, but it is unclear how he spent the next ten years of his life. What is clear is that he took to life at sea. He served as a U.S. Navy gunboat commander off the coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida during the War of 1812, rising to the rank of Captain. After the war John R. Grayson, then a trans-Atlantic merchant sailing master, married Frances Harvey in Charleston, SC. They are our 4th great-grandparents, and the progenitors of the Savannah, Georgia branch of the family. The family history mentions a final unsolved mystery:

“Thomas Robinson Grayson, a twin with John, was [later] impressed in like manner from the same vessel off Calcutta and from that day to this, has never been heard of. What anguish did not the unknown fate of this poor boy give his fond mother even to the day of her death? The effort to be resigned to the Will of Heaven, the tear whenever impressment was mentioned, that would flow and could not always be concealed, bespoke but too deeply the rankling of the wound that would not heal, ‘the cry in Ramah, the grief of Rachel that would not be comforted for her children that were not.‘ ” (citing Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:18)

There is no mention of Thomas in the NARA records.

¹ NARA Microfilm publications M1839 and M2025, “Records About Impressed Seamen, 1793-1814” https://archives.gov/research/military/war-of-1812/1812-discharge-certificates/impressed-seamen-1793-to-1814#toc-part-4-where-to-find-these-records

² Sir Evan Nepean (1752-1822) was British Secretary to the Board of Admiralty in 1800.